We've got a good news and a bad news. The good news first: Microsoft will finally embrace the capacious Blu-ray disc format as its media of choice with its next-generation Xbox console. A double-layer Blu-ray disc provides 50 GB of space, letting developers load higher-resolution elements (such as textures), and more importantly, load entire games into a single disc. The 8 GB DVD9 used with Xbox 360 is posing limitations with some titles, forcing publishers to ship games in multiple discs. The new console should also double up as a nice Blu-ray home-video player, complete with multi-channel lossless audio and 1080p playback.

Now on to the bad news: Remember the good old days when you could share your game cartridges and discs with your friends, or resell them? Those are about to be numbered, at least in the case of the Xbox platform. Microsoft is designing its next-generation Xbox console in a way that restricts people from playing "used" games. We would imagine Microsoft doing this by binding each purchased game's activation to a Xbox Live account à la Steam, Origin, and G4WL. This is terrible news to services such as GameStop, which deal in used games and consoles.Source: Kotaku

119 Comments on Next-Gen Xbox Features Blu-ray, Will Not Play Used Games

Wow I used to buy nearly all my xbox games used. Saved a lot of money. Good thing I moved to PC gaming when I did. This will probably also affect e.g. Gamestop's/EB Games' gross income and thus affect jobs etc. Microsoft should have thought this through better. :shadedshu

I don't think using Kotaku as a source buffer some how makes this anymore legitimate, but all the same I'll quote myself on the used game issue.

I get so sick of this bizarre entitlement game publishers think they have to be the only industry that can dodge used sales. I mean this makes zero sense that they think this is a legitimate option or complaint. If they block used game sales then they should block used DVD sales, used car sales. Wtf is this insanity? Someone round up everyone involved and beat them with sticks till they get the message. No fucking way is this going to fly with consumers. I'd expect unfavorable legislation if I were them.

In the event MS "leaked" this rumor on purpose to test the waters on this idea I think its best to make as many extremely negative remarks as possible. Go nuts, go over the top. I doubt this will be a feature now considering the response it's gotten whether they ever considered it or not.

That sucks about the bad news. I guess this means if you got a group of friends together that had different games, you'd have to be constantly switching between consoles instead of swapping disks. Awesome!

by: badtaylorx^^^^^no. they'll just use hddvd again....maybe it'll work out this time :slap:

If I were microsoft I would put a hd-dvd drive in the next gen xbox.
It would cut down piracy having game disks as hd-dvds only.
hd-dvd burner,blank hd-dvds where are you going to find those? dead format ftw.

by: 2wickedIf I were microsoft I would put a hd-dvd drive in the next gen xbox.
It would cut down piracy having game disks as hd-dvds only.
hd-dvd burner,blank hd-dvds where are you going to find those? dead format ftw.

+1

I've been touting this for years. Saying MS should have put an integrated HD-DVD drive into the 360S and upsing HD-DVDs as the game format would increase their capacity without paying Sony royalties for Blu-Ray or coming up with their own format, give them complete control over the format so they could do what they wanted with it, AND be cheap to produce as HD-DVDs can be made on standard DVD production lines.

What happens when games are out of "print" or just very old or hard to find new?
With digital distribution on PC you have a variety of services you can use and they all compete with each other, on xbox your stuck to whatever they charge and offer.

Microsoft are more likely to design a proprietary format and use that. Blu ray would be cheaper to use than develop a new or re design an existing format; one thing that makes me unsure is that when nvidia made graphics chips for xbox and they had a falling out, the xbox was discontinued, what if Sony suddenly took away licensing for blu ray to Microsoft?

what is with all the sony comments... Sony doesn't OWN blu ray lg and samsung also do bluray and they can produce drives for MS. I seriously don't think this will happen or can you say console crash of 2013!

by: KieranDWhat happens when games are out of "print" or just very old or hard to find new?
With digital distribution on PC you have a variety of services you can use and they all compete with each other, on xbox your stuck to whatever they charge and offer.

Microsoft are more likely to design a proprietary format and use that. Blu ray would be cheaper to use than develop a new or re design an existing format; one thing that makes me unsure is that when nvidia made graphics chips for xbox and they had a falling out, the xbox was discontinued, what if Sony suddenly took away licensing for blu ray to Microsoft?

Microsoft has XBLA sales.

Amazon, Best Buy, Gamestop, Target, etc all have deals like Steam and you don't have to leave your house to get them.

Microsoft is designing its next-generation Xbox console in a way that restricts people from playing "used" games. We would imagine Microsoft doing this by binding each purchased game's activation to a Xbox Live account à la Steam, Origin, and G4WL. This is terrible news to services such as GameStop, which deal in used games and consoles.

HAHA i don't use consoles but this is funny soon you'll be installing windows on your XBOX